A former East Stroudsburg University student was arrested April 16 for allegedly harassing his ex-girlfriend, Maria Ottaviano, by using caller ID spoofing and sending threatening emails to himself from her email account.

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By CAMILO H. SMITHCAMILLO H. SMITH

poconorecord.com

By CAMILO H. SMITHCAMILLO H. SMITH

Posted Apr. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By CAMILO H. SMITHCAMILLO H. SMITH
Posted Apr. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

A former East Stroudsburg University student was arrested April 16 for allegedly harassing his ex-girlfriend, Maria Ottaviano, by using caller ID spoofing and sending threatening emails to himself from her email account.

Tyler Brown, who now lives in Mullica Hill, N.J., is also accused of violating an earlier protection from abuse order that required him to avoid contact with Ottaviano.

Authorities said Brown, 21, was using the false emails and phone calls to discredit Ottaviano. In January, she filed a complaint against Brown for allegedly violating the protection order, according to a criminal complaint.

Brown appeared in court Feb. 25 to answer the charge, and according to the document, he and his mother, Michele Brown, testified about emails sent by the ex-girlfriend. The emails demanded that Tyler contact Ottaviano or else she would have him sent to jail.

During the court hearing, the mother said she was contacted by Ottaviano by telephone and supplied the court with photographs of a caller ID that displayed ex-girlfriend's cell phone number and name. Authorities said the caller ID was "spoofed" because, "telephone numbers do not show a subscriber name on the caller ID."

Ottaviano testified to receiving a call from Brown's stepmother, as well as getting calls from various unknown numbers between Dec. 10, 2012, and Feb. 25, 2013. According to the complaint Ottaviano had to block a total of eight unidentified numbers that she said were "spoofed" by Brown.

She "continued to receive telephone calls at all hours of the day and night," police said.

Authorities said that Brown engaged in caller ID spoofing, which is when someone uses a computer or mobile communications application to create a fake caller ID number. And according to the criminal complaint Brown had access to Ottaviano's AOL email account without her permission. He allegedly used that access to send threatening emails to himself.

The Monroe County District Attorney's Office began investigating the claims against Brown in March and delivered court orders to American Online and Comcast cable company, so they could trace the origin of the emails using the unique Internet Protocol address. Authorities said the companies traced the emails to Brown's New Jersey home. Brown had testified under oath that the emails originated from Ottaviano, who was intially chastised by the court for the alleged contact that she didn't initiate, according to the complaint.

Brown has been charged with perjury, false swearing, fabricating physical evidence, criminal use of a communication device, unlawful use of a computer, harassment and stalking. He is scheduled to make a court appearance at a future date.